Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier in regard to a letter that was written to the Premier back on April 19th, some six months ago, from the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council outlining concerns that they’ve had in regard to the devolution process and elements that they feel are critical to making sure that the agreements that we do negotiate for devolution include some of these aspects, regardless of division of powers and responsibilities. We’re looking at the distribution of revenues in regard to how the existing different agreements reflect the population of a specific area and also the effects that resource development has in certain parts of the Territories where those resources are coming from.
Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important that we do everything we can to accommodate those organizations and groups to ensure that we get them on side. I’d just like to ask the Premier, have you received the letter and when are you intending to respond to this letter. From my understanding, there hasn’t been a response to date. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The letter has been received and we felt we were going to address that through our regional leaders meetings and some side meetings that we’d have there. With the recent release that has come out, we will put it instead in a formal response back to the president of the Gwich’in Tribal Council.
In the letter there are several items, six items which were part of the media release that came out yesterday. I’d like to ask the Premier, has your department taken into consideration these six elements that were in the letter in regard to the negotiation of the devolution process and were they even brought to the negotiating table.
The process, the questions that were raised in there at one time or another have been discussed and some of these are the fact that they will fall into the bilateral discussions we will have government to government between the GNWT and aboriginal governments. So that’s the process that it would fall under and it would be addressed through that manner. Thank you.
Also in the letter it refers to the Yukon devolution process and how the devolution experience in the Yukon has basically marginalized aboriginal people in the Yukon where they are no longer really involved in the decision-making process and the effects of oil and gas development on their lands and where all the control seems to be with the Yukon government. So again, has the government looked in regard to the devolution process in the Yukon and how the indigenous people are affected by that devolution process so that we don’t adopt the same thing in the Northwest Territories and have the same results? Thank you.
In fact, through this process we have looked closely at the Yukon agreement and that process, and have ensured and worked at the table with the aboriginal governments and representatives on ensuring that this process we’re involved with to a much greater extent involves aboriginal governments in the future of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the elements that they talk about in the agreement is the whole area of distribution of royalty wealth of which 25 percent is going to aboriginal organizations in the Northwest Territories. The other 75 percent is going to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Those governments represent 50 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories and they represent 27 communities. I’d like to know if we have looked at the possibility of seeing how this arrangement is being divvied up and will we consider reallocation of that formula so that it’s more transparent with regard to the people they serve and the communities they work out of.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. It’s starting to get into the contents of the AIP, which is a document that is not formally before the House. I will go to the Premier, but it is not necessary to answer that question. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That does get into the AIP itself. We’re waiting for the response from the chief negotiators’ letter that went to the aboriginal governments and their representatives to provide a response that would see them continue in those discussions. As I was saying earlier, there is a process in that agreement that has bilaterals, and that subject matter would be discussed through those processes.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I spoke about the state of the playgrounds in Fort Simpson over the summer months. I just want to ask the Minister of Education some follow-up questions with regard to that.
When the janitorial staff got a similar deal to that of teachers where they got the summer months off, what plan was in place to maintain the school yards and facilities during the summer months?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Part of the plan is that the local school board, the school is responsible for the maintenance of the playground, in partnership with PWS. So we do provide funding, the general pot of funding to the school boards, and they’re distributed to the teaching staff and janitorial custodial work. Part of the custodial work is also some of the contract agreement they have, is cleaning out the school in the summer, in preparation for summer, and also upon their return they go through the school system and do an overall cleaning as well. That is part of the contract we have with the schools.
In the case of Fort Simpson, at the start of the school year that certainly didn’t appear to be the case. I was just wondering, I did contact the Minister’s office as well as the Minister of Public Works on it and I’d just like to know what exactly happened. Have they reviewed what occurred during the summer? Will they come up with a good plan for next summer?
When the request came in from MLA Menicoche on concerns of the playground, we expeditiously followed up with PWS and had resources, staff members go into the community and clean up that area, along with the assistance of the school as well. There has been community contribution, as well, from the parents, which was greatly valued. At the same time, this issue that came up before, the community can play an important role in preventing vandalism and also littering issues in the community. We are working with PWS and my department with the schools to put up some cameras and fencing along that area. Those are in the works, and the camera I think is slated to go in and be completed by the end of October. That’s the goal we are working on.
I, too, commend the parents’ groups for the work that’s been done. Next coming summer, what exactly would be the plan in place? I know that Public Works and Services have a lot of priorities during the summer months as well. Is there any provision with the education boards or ministerial office for part-time summer work for somebody to maintain those grounds?
We have across 33 community schools in all communities that deal with these particular issues. It is the principal in the schools and administration team that does that type of work through the custodial work. At the same time, I would encourage the MLA to also meet with the local school board to see what kind of planning is in place. They are fully aware of what’s happening here and there are plans in place for fencing and cameras for next year as well. We are doing what we can as the Department of Education along with Public Works. At the same time, the community plays an important role as well.
I again encourage the Member to meet with the local school board and find out the planning process from them.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I certainly have been working with the school boards as we progress with some type of plan for the school grounds.
Once again, is there any provision for extra funding or resources to help maintain the school grounds during the summer months?
That provision would fall under the local school board and the divisional education council. We provide funding to them and they disperse the funding through their priorities. The decision lies with the local school board. If they feel there should be a need for a half-time or full-time position over the summer, it’s at their discretion to allow that to happen. We’ll continue to work with the school boards.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to pick up where my colleagues Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Abernethy were asking questions on the respite program here in Yellowknife. We’re confused about where the funding has gone and how this has happened. If we’re confused, I can only imagine how the parents and families that utilize the respite service are feeling today.
I’d like to ask the Minister, we sat through the business plans. I’m not a member of the Social Programs committee, but I was there during the business plans. We also had a meeting with the authority shortly thereafter. Nobody said that the $250,000 was gone and the respite program was going to be cut come March 31st of next year. I’d like to ask the Minister why that was omitted from the business plans and the meeting with the authority.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve been working with all the authorities to come up with a comprehensive plan on transitioning from THAF to THSSI, because the pot of money we’re getting from the feds is not the same, the criteria is not the same, the amount of money that we’re getting is not the same. It was important that we work with the authorities to come up with a plan; a plan so that we don’t work to cross purposes, that we do a full analysis of how we’re spending this money. It did come as a surprise to me that this letter went out and it was communicated in that way. I have a commitment from Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority that they will work with YACL and come up with a plan, and I am committed to working with Yellowknife and to make sure that we look at all possible options. That’s why it... I’ll just stop there. I’m sure he has a supplementary.
I guess the bottom line for me was that the federal funding was set to expire in 2011-2012, yet there have been changes made to that funding and where that funding is going. I’m trying to follow that $250,000. Maybe the Minister could let me know and let this House know where exactly, if the $250,000 isn’t earmarked for the respite program next year, where exactly that $250,000 is going.
That funding is multi-million dollars over five years. THSSI is a multi-million dollar proposal for the next two years. We have just finalized this. I’m not trying to confuse anybody or evade answers in any way. This is a complicated package of funding that we received from the federal government. This is why I’m making a commitment from the Members on the other side that I will come to them with the full proposal so that we can have the entire picture of what the new funding looks like and get an explanation of where respite care would have fit or should fit or doesn’t fit. We’re just working on that. I think we need to have the full information before we decide exactly what happened to that $200,000. Federal funding always comes with criteria and complicated rules and we need to have a full briefing on that.
I understand that and I understand that there are rules in place for the utilization of federal dollars. If the rules were in place that allowed it to be spent on the respite program in one year, I’m just wondering how it could change to the next year.
The next question I’d have for the Minister -- and we all know concrete is very expensive; the department has entered down this road of a Foundation for Change -- is the money that was earmarked for the respite program going into the Foundation for Change and the cost to that.
As I stated to the Member for Great Slave, one of the criteria for the new funding is for us to exit THAF funding. This new funding ends at the end of 2012. We fund doctors, we fund midwifery, we fund diagnostic imaging. We fund lots of other things under THAF right now and we’re finding ways to work out the details on how we spend THSSI funding. Part of transitioning means system change as well. This is why it’s important for us to get details on exactly what the federal government has asked us to do with THSSI, what we have agreed to do.
Once again, the respite care is a small program that’s vital to the people who have been receiving it. I think it’s incumbent on us to have a full discussion on that instead of just speaking about one program.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I still am quite confused, because you had a program that was working, you had funding that would have enabled it to continue to 2011-2012, yet the $250,000 is gone somewhere. You’re using it for something else and I’m not quite sure I understand what you’re using it for. Whose decision was it to cut the $250,000 out of the respite care program? Was it the department or was it the authority?
Just two points on that. The first point, I will commit to get back to the Members on how the accounting was done in terms of the comparison between BP and the new funding we’re getting, because we did just go through the BP process. There’s a program there, money for respite care, and we are bringing new money under THSSI under supplementary appropriations. So there are some accounting rules that we had to follow that I would get the Member the detail on.
The second part is, I want to tell the Member, and I’ve said it again, THSSI funding is a lot less than THAF. So we are going to see reductions in programs that we have paid under THAF. We have authorities that make decisions about how they spend money that they get from the department. All the authorities are working on plans. We were all to work together on those plans. It is unfortunate that an announcement was made about discontinuation of one program in one isolated way, and Yellowknife Health is working to address that. I am committed to working with Yellowknife Health. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the serious issues of low employment in the smaller communities and the need to address this issue. I have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Recognizing that this is a government-wide issue, does the Minister agree that addressing the low employment rates in the small communities is the responsibility of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do agree that ECE plays a role in addressing low employment rates across the Northwest Territories, but we have to keep in mind that we cannot do it alone as the GNWT. There have to be other partners, aboriginal partners, municipalities, and also industries in the communities and also individuals. So those are our partners that we continue to work with. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, I feel that this government should play a lead role. Can the Minister commit to developing a plan that addresses the issue of low employment rates in the smaller communities before the end of this government? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we currently provide, through ECE, a number of programs into the smaller communities, the isolated communities, so they can participate in the labour market in the Northwest Territories. We also are currently working on the Labour Market Development Framework that also involves consultation with the communities. This framework will help us to adapt to the new emergent economic and labour force challenges and opportunities. What the Member is referring to will be addressed in the framework itself, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, speaking in the short-term context, will the Minister commit to a comprehensive summer student program for this coming summer for rural and remote communities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, at the ECE department we’ve launched a new program this fiscal year called Small Community Employment Support Program, and it has been very, very successful to date, Mr. Speaker. As of September 2010, a total of $223,400 was given to 27 employers, and 98 youth in 19 small and remote communities were hired. This program will be delivered on an ongoing basis and it has been beneficial to date. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, low employment rates is a serious issue in small communities, a longstanding issue in the small communities. For some certainty, I would like to know if this Minister can commit to taking a lead with all these plans and strategies that are in place and providing information to this House as to the progress of those plans and strategies. Thank you.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, yes. ECE is already in the process of, again, developing the Labour Market Development Framework. That is the comprehensive work that we’ve been engaged in, and I encourage the Member to provide feedback. We will also provide feedback to the Member on our consultations with the stakeholders.
I would like to thank the Member and also the Members for their valuable contributions towards this important document and will continue to have ongoing discussion with the stakeholders.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
